We mainly drove a rental car through Europe. Emerson took over the navigator position after everyone came to the conclusion that I am severely directionally challenged! We did not have a GPS in the car so we had to figure out a place to print up mapquest directions, grab a map and hope for the best! We arrived safely to every place we wanted to go- I consider that a success!
I am in the process of organizing Paris and London photos, then I have to figure out how to end my blog which is causing me such sadness! Hopefully I can hop on the Internet some time tonight and get some stuff out there. Not done yet….
Thanks for accompanying us on our journey! Love!
Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I should have been a sociologist. I love studying people- watching them, listening to conversations (even in languages I don’t understand), looking at photographs of people I don’t know…. people are fascinating to me. We have been moving so quickly lately from culture to culture- it is really cool to check out the similarities and differences, then move on and see something new the next day with everything still fresh in our minds. That being said- I felt compelled to write about body image. A large majority of the women in the south of France seem to be extremely confident with their bodies and comfortable in their own skin. It is so refreshing. In the states, you are bombarded on an hourly basis with unattainable images of women with huge boobs, teeny tiny waists and butts with nary a cellulitic dimple in sight!
I wish I could be like these women here! I am guilty of negative feelings about my body at times (I’m no spring chicken and I’ve had three kids, blah, blah, blah.) I taught barre classes when I lived in Manhattan Beach (if you want a killer workout in a fun atmosphere – go see Angela Bennett at FitOn Studio on Sepulveda. Tell her Kim sent you!) So I understand the desire to want to be fit, healthy and to feel and look good. What I don’t understand is the desire to look twenty or thirty years younger than you are. A 50 year old woman trying to look 20- inevitably looks weird.
I totally agree with the adages ‘to each their own’ and ‘whatever floats your boat’ and it is a woman’s right to do what she wants with her body- Botox, boob jobs, etc. But there is something so fantastic about watching women on these topless and fully nude beaches (yes, they have those here in France) where they embrace their bodies and the stories they tell. You can see that security in their daughters and granddaughters, too. What a wonderful gift to pass on. How much wasted energy is spent during a lifetime worrying if we ate too many carbs last week? So lame!
It reminds me of other blog posts I have written about image. Image is ultimately fake. It is just what appears on the outside. Anyone can put lipstick on a pig or polish a turd, but in the end it still is what it is. 🙂
I’m so happy I can jump, run and climb. We should be thankful of that every day, right?! We should make sure we feel really good on the inside, then work on the outside. Show girls and other women that there are SO many things in the world far more important than our looks. The most beautiful people I have ever met, shine from the inside out. Does that sound cheesebally? Sure it does but I don’t care.
Now go out there and shake what yo’ mama gave you!!!!! (Enjoy the images below of women doing just that!)
Apparently, we are not receiving all emails that are sent to us. If you tried to email us and never heard back it is because we probably didn’t get the message. You could always post a quick note to the blog and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. Hopefully we’ll figure out what the deal is soon!
Working out the ending details of our adventure… we all have mixed emotions.
Thanks for checking in.
Love! kim and crew
I used to watch Benny Hill a lot when I was little and I loved it! My dad and brother were big fans, as well. We especially loved the little old bald man with the silly face- every time Benny Hill slapped him quickly on the head was comedy gold! I thought he was a genius. He’d have totally silly, slapstick humor – then out of the blue, he would throw something into the show that was profound. This song was an example of that to me and whenever I see a merry-go-round I think of him. I copied all the lyrics- it is one of my favorite songs.
GO ‘ROUND AGAIN- Benny Hill
The couple looked down at their newborn child
In their shack that was falling to bits,
The mother said, “Let’s call it Johnny,”
The father said, “Let’s call it quits.”
And when Johnny was four, his pa was too poor
To buy toys from the Christmas shop shelves,
So he just fired his gun and he told his young son
Father Christmas had shot himself.
Now one day his ma took him to a fair
And he went on a round-about,
He giggled with glee, “I wanna go wee!”
Everyone heard the boy shout.
She took him by the hand, from the fairground they ran,
She took him behind a big tree,
She said, “There, shut your row, you can go wee now,”
He took a deep breath and went, “Weeee!”
Then he said, “Please can I go ’round again, ma?
Please can I go ’round again?
Oh, I love the sound of the merry-go-round,
Please let me go ’round again?
I’ll do all of my homework,
I’ll even kiss old Auntie Gwen,
And I won’t shout out loud, ma, I’ll make you proud,
Please let me go ’round again.”
At twelve he danced with his gym mistress,
She said, “Johnny, you’re wicked and you’re bad,
I wish I was your ma for just half an hour,”
John said, “I’ll have a word with my dad.”
Then someone dropped a lit cigarette down the back
Of her dress but she didn’t shout,
She just walked off the floor and she said, “What a bore,
I shall just have to sit this one out.”
And Johnny said, “Please can we go ’round again, Miss Rhodes,
Please can we go ’round again?
I’ve not been this close to a woman before
And heck knows when I will again.
Oh, I tell you true, I could dance with you
‘Til the cows come home and then,
I could dance with the cows, so please, Miss Rhodes,
Please let me go ’round again.”
At eighteen, Irene with the hourglass figure
Got him in a heck of a fix,
Her pa came ’round and Johnny was found
With his hands on a quarter to six.
They were married the next day in the church by the bay,
10 a.m., the 15th of June,
She looked lovely in white as she said, “Johnny, tonight…”
He said, “To heck with tonight, this afternoon!”
“Then can we go ’round again?
In the meantime can we go ’round again?
I tell ya I haven’t felt like this
Since I can’t remember when.
And seein’ you lay there beside me,
Oh it damn near blows my mind,
Oh please can we go ’round again and again,
And then ’round again one more time?”
Johnny’s mother-in-law came to live next door,
She had a tongue that stung like a bee,
She said, “I’ll dance on your grave,” Johnny said, “That’s brave,
‘Cause I’m gonna be buried at sea.”
At 50 he took to coming home late,
He wasn’t a creature of habit.
If he came home early his wife thought he was up to something,
If he came home late she thought that he’d had it.
He was just 91 on the day he passed on,
It was the way that he hoped it would be,
He was shot by a beauty queen’s husband
In a fit of jealousy.
As he lay on the floor a priest was sent forward,
And with his last breath Johnny confessed,
“I spent all of my money on woman and drink
And like a fool I squandered the rest.”
“Lord, can I go ’round again?
Please can I go ’round again?
Oh, I can’t believe that I’ll never see
Your sky or your trees again.
Oh, the girls and the wine and the living were fine,
I shouldn’t complain but then,
You give damned short rides on this fairground of yours, Lord,
Oh please let me go ’round again.”
I recently posted a picture of Maddux’s hiking feet. When I was looking through old photos yesterday- I found a picture of my feet from India. Wowsers!
The woman living at the monkey temple put jewelry on my feet and said it signified that I was a married woman. I don’t think anyone has been eyeing me or my feet on this trip! (Check out the fly on my leg- there were flies everywhere. Sometimes, we’d be talking to someone while flies were walking all over their face and they didn’t seem to mind at all.)
~Lennon has made up his own song called “I Gotta’ Hurry Up!” He sings it with a heavy metal type energy. Someone was telling him to hurry up and he just started singing his song. We have since added onto it. I don’t think he’d let us take a video of it- but it would definitely be blog worthy!
~We downloaded some songs onto our iPad: Indiana Jones, Jaws, Star Wars (main theme song) and The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s song.) It is incredible how these songs can help put you in a particular mood. You can not help but feel like being an adventurer when you listen to India Jones. (For my brother Jeff- it’s kind of like Mortal Kombat. Thanks for letting me listen to that a million times on our cross country road trip!! You are the best brother- hands down!)
~Speaking of songs- to avoid boredom during long waits (either waiting for a mode of transportation or in one) you have to figure out how to make fun! So- the kids put music on and make up dances. They’ve also done some synchronized swimming together. We should really take video to use as blackmail later!
~As time has gone by, everyone has become incredibly efficient. I can now wake up, shower, get dressed/ready, pack up my backpack and the kids’ clothes bags in under ten minutes. If no shower is involved- I can easily be ready to go in less than six. That explains my appearance in most of the photos! hee
If you posted a comment- we most likely responded at some point. The reply will be attached to the original post that you commented on. Hope this makes sense. 🙂
No! Not us this time. While at one of the many airports we’ve been to -a huge group of American tourists walked into the waiting area. Some guy (the leader?) got up and was asking if everyone knew what color group they were and to raise their hands. Then a lady walks up from behind him (leader’s helper?) and starts yelling that the red group has now been changed to the golden lotus group. There is a rumbling in the crowd and people look confused. Then the leader guy holds up a cane and says “we’re going to auction off a cane, folks. Who needs a cane?” At this point, everyone in the waiting area is looking around like “what in the world is going on!?” Some are laughing. A guy from an airline holds up a sign for a flight that none of them are on and they all pop up to get in a line- how easily they follow a new leader! The ‘real’ leader guy tells them to sit down and it looks like a game of musical chairs. People plop down anywhere they can and look around anxiously as if they are going to somehow be stranded. A co-leader yells out that someone left an IPad at the hotel. An older woman raises her hand and says that she thinks it might be hers because she can’t find hers. Aye-yi-yi!
New guy with new sign calls out their flight- which we are on. All social etiquette goes out the window. They cut in front of us. They ruthlessly cut in front of everyone acting like total buffoons. Someone is speaking English to them but they’re looking around for their leader to translate. Come on, man! I am certainly not saying that we always know what we’re doing but I am desperately hoping that we don’t parade around like a gaggle of boobs, and if we do I certainly hope we are not impeding a fellow traveler’s progress or making a spectacle of ourselves.
Oh, who am I kidding?! We probably offer comic relief for someone at least once a day! ha
marschmadness 